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| Richell Mehus' leadership style has won her praise and won some games as well. UW-River Falls athletics photo |
By Josh Smith
The UW-River Falls women’s basketball team had a lot to celebrate Saturday night.
With a postgame banquet already scheduled for parents’ night and senior night, the Falcons added to the celebration when they defeated UW-Oshkosh to secure the program’s first regular season WIAC championship since 1989.
“As soon as the buzzer went off, the fans stormed the court,” said Richell Mehus, the lone senior on the UW-RF roster. “It was incredible.”
“It was so fun to play that game at home. Our crowd was fantastic. We had a great student section,” coach Cindy Holbrook said. “And it was really cool because we had so many alumni and alumni parents and staff.
“To do that at home, with our own fans and our own families and things like that, we couldn’t have asked for it to happen any better than that.”
Having beat out three other ranked opponents to win the WIAC crown, River Falls is looking for more success in the conference tournament.
“I’m curious to see how they respond to the conference tournament,” Holbrook said, noting that her players were so focused on winning the regular season crown that the conference tournament hadn’t been discussed much prior. “It’s so up in the air with the teams as strong as they are, so it will be interesting to see.”
For many of UW-River Falls’ players, the WIAC tournament will be a new experience.
The Falcons, while fielding young teams, finished eighth in the league standings the past two years and failed to reach the conference tourney.
As the only four-year player at UW-River Falls to play in the WIAC tournament, Mehus said she will emphasize to her teammates the importance of being prepared to battle.
“It’s going to come down to one or two possessions,” said Mehus, who experienced one conference tournament game her freshman season.
It’s likely that other players will take Mehus’s advice. Holbrook said the entire roster looks up to the three-year captain that scores an average of 10.8 points per game.
“One of the things that’s really cool, leadership-wise, about Richell is she has a personality that people want to follow,” Holbrook said. “She’s never been a dictator-type leader or anything like that. She has genuinely good relationships with her teammates.”
The Falcons also can benefit from the experience of transfer point guard Brynn Liljander, who won the WIAC title with UW-Superior last February and later advanced to the conference tournament championship game.
“Brynn’s a game-changer,” Holbrook said of the guard, who is averaging 13.7 points per game. “Just her demeanor on the court has made a huge difference.”
In addition to Liljander joining the team, UW-River Falls benefited tremendously from the experience its other seven juniors got as sophomores last winter.
Mehus said everyone understands their roles better this year, and that has led to additional success – especially with the inside-out game. She added that everyone is a little wiser on the court, and her coach agreed.
“Our team was just so much smarter this year. We could scout teams, we were so much more consistent and we could execute game plans better – kids could get the ball the ball to the right place at the right time,” Holbrook said. “Those things change games.
“And, really, you have to have a lot of things go right. And thankfully, things fell into place pretty well for us, so far.”
The Falcons got a sense that this season could be special during a trip to Florida, where they capped a 9-2 non-conference schedule. Mehus said the trip brought the team closer together off the court, but also helped them find a rhythm with one another on the floor.
Holbrook said the most important moment of the team trip came during a poolside meeting, where they discussed their team goals before returning to the Wisconsin winter.
“I felt like that gave us a huge sense of direction going into conference play,” Holbrook said. “That was a huge turning point.”
The team set expectations for themselves heading into WIAC play and went on to win six of their first seven conference games.
The second time through the conference schedule yielded positive results too as River Falls won its final six league games to claim the title.
“They went into both rounds (of conference play) feeling like they could finish first. In practice, we held them to finishing first, as far as how they prepared for games, how hard they work and things like that,” Holbrook said.
“We all worked together as a team,” Mehus added. “Everyone did their part, and great things can happen when we all do that.”
Having had a taste of success, UW-River Falls is hoping its team chemistry can provide more good fortune in the WIAC tournament and likely the NCAA tournament.
“We just want to play as long as possible, and we know every game is going to be a battle,” Mehus said. “We’ll take on who we get as it comes.”
Central Region clippings
Madelyn Landgraf scored 20 points to lead Concordia (Wis.) past Concordia-Chicago, 87-71, Feb. 20. She became the 14th player in program history to reach the 1,000 point milestone and led the Falcons to the outright NACC regular season title. … The UW-La Crosse men’s basketball team won its first conference title in 51 seasons. The Eagles topped UW-Stevens Point, 55-53, Feb. 20 to win the WIAC title outright. … Julian Marx became the 25th player in Grinnell’s men’s basketball program to eclipse 1,000 points. He surpassed the milestone Feb. 13. He now has 1,040 points. … The Wash U women's squad knocked off NYU, 66-53, Feb. 21 and clinched the UAA championship when Rochester lost at Carnegie Mellon. … St. Norbert defeated Cornell, 72-62, marking the Green Knights’ 62nd consecutive win over a Midwest Conference opponent. In the 1950s, Wheaton (Ill.) began a streak of 61 straight conference victories while competing in the College Conference of Illinois and later the CCIW. … Augustana claimed the outright CCIW men’s regular season title, clipping Wheaton (Ill.) in overtime, 103-101. … The Westminster (Mo.) women’s basketball team extended its winning streak to 14 games and secured the outright SLIAC regular season championship. … Wheaton (Ill.) and Illinois Wesleyan shared the CCIW women’s championship. The Thunder topped Augustana, 67-57, to earn a second-straight title while the Titans bested Elmhurst, 75-69, to claim a share of their first title since 2012. … MacMurray and Greenville shared the men’s SLIAC regular season title. MacMurray won at Fontbonne, 78-67, Feb. 20 while Greenville lost a close one at home to Eureka, 115-113, giving both teams 12-6 league records. … Eric Kittel scored 28 points to help Concordia (Wis.) beat Aurora, 120-110, on Feb. 13. In the process, he became the 15th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. … St. Norbert finished a perfect 18-0 in Midwest Conference play, marking the first time in 19 seasons a women’s team in the league finished with an unblemished record. … Principia men’s basketball coach Mike Bushong announced his retirement following the 2015-16 season. Assistant coach Todd Zimmerman will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the school year.
Where they rank
No. 1 Augustana and No. 2 Benedictine secured 15 and 10 first place votes, respectively, in this week’s Top 25 men’s poll.
St. Norbert moved up two spots to No. 8 while North Central (Ill.) climbed one place to No. 11. Elmhurst fell four spots to No. 17. Other Central Region teams that received votes in this week poll include Carroll (14), Aurora (3), Chicago (2) and UW-La Crosse (2).
In the women’s Top 25, Washington U. remained ranked at No. 9. UW-River Falls rose two places to No. 13 while UW-Oshkosh was bumped one spot to No. 15.
UW-Stevens Point moved up two spots to No. 19, Wheaton (Ill.) climbed three spots to No. 18 and UW-Whitewater tumbled seven places to No. 24.
St. Norbert (4) received votes in this week’s women’s poll.
Check in
Do you have a story idea for the Around the Central column? Contact me about broken records, approaching milestones, breakout players or any other storylines from the Region. Or just drop me a note to let me know what you think of the column. All ideas and feedback are welcome. Email me at josh.smith@d3sports.com or follow me on Twitter @By_Josh_Smith.
Around the Central Region was written by Josh Smith during the 2015-16 season. Josh covers high school and Division III athletics for the Daily Jefferson County Union in Fort Atkinson, Wis. He has won multiple awards for reporting and photography and contributes to multiple publications in addition to his duties at the Daily Union, including D3sports.com beginning in 2012. He graduated from UW-Whitewater with a degree in print journalism.
